To say that Ruby Walsh is in peak condition for the Cheltenham Festival would be a monstrous distortion of the truth but, thanks to Mon Parrain here, he has at least ridden a winner since November. His right eye blackened by a fall at Naas on Wednesday, the jockey appeared otherwise comfortable and shrugged off any concern about his ability to cope with the most important and physically demanding week of his year.

Walsh denies ever doubting that he would be able to take part at the Festival, despite breaking a leg in two places in a hideous fall at Down Royal in November. He finally returned to action nine days ago but, although apparently fit, never went near the winner's enclosure until this victory and had almost been returned to the sidelines by the Naas incident, when a horse rolled over him.

Leaning against a wall in the weighing room after his last ride, he played down the threat of that fall, saying he knew immediately that he had not been crocked again. "There's different types of pain," he said. "There's soreness pain and there's broken pain and you know the difference. This was just soreness pain."

While fans have fretted over his lack of match practice and punters have backed his rivals to have more winners at Cheltenham, Walsh shows no sign of concern and it must be admitted that recent seasons have brought him plenty of experience of returning from injury and being pitched straight into major races. He pointed out that he won the 2005 Christmas Hurdle shortly after one long absence and the 2007 King George after another.

Asked about his lack of success since his latest comeback, Walsh said: "It doesn't matter who you are, no one can make horses run faster than they're able. Ten days before Cheltenham, the good horses are all going there. It's that kind of racing. You don't have standouts. You're trying to win on second-grade horses."

Rather than rue the big-race successes he has missed, Walsh is disposed to be philosophical. "If you spent a week in Ireland, you'd realise we're doing a hell of a lot better than most people in our country.

"A lot of people are feeling very low at the minute. I have a job and I'm lucky enough to go back to it, so you don't think that things are going badly. You can't sit around drawing the curtains, that doesn't solve any problems."

But Walsh claimed to be in the dark about most of his rides next week and denied knowing whether he would be on Hurricane Fly in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle, even though the final declarations must be made on Sunday. He named Big Buck's as his most significant ride and spoke of his pleasure at having Quevega, Master Minded and Kauto Star to look forward to, but would elaborate no further.

Speaking at the Festival preview that followed the racing, Paul Nicholls said he expected Walsh to ride Mikael D'Haguenet in the RSA Chase rather than the Nicholls-trained Aiteen Thirtythree, in which case Daryl Jacob would pick up the spare ride. Nicholls added that Walsh would partner Sam Winner in the Triumph Hurdle, with Jacob on Zarkandar and Harry Skelton on Brampour. "Ruby's been dying to get on Sam Winner, who he thinks is a chaser for next year," the trainer said.

Alarazi ran on dourly to win the feature race here, the Imperial Cup, and will earn a £75,000 bonus from the sponsors, Paddy Power, if he can win a race at next week's Festival. "It's a bit of a dream," said the winning trainer, Lucy Wadham. "We've been trying to win the race for years and we have been second and third in it before."

Wadham said she would rather run Alarazi in the County Hurdle but would fall back on the Martin Pipe event if the horse missed the cut in the other race. "He's a Group Three horse on the Flat and has a very high cruising speed, but he never settled in his novice races and these big handicaps really suit him."

Starluck was sent off at odds of 2-5 for his second outing over fences but finished third of the four runners after making a number of mistakes. The horse had already been taken out of the Arkle Trophy and connections will now consider whether to run him at Aintree's Grand National meeting.

Tranquil Sea has been ruled out of Thursday's Ryanair Chase after an unsatisfactory scope. His trainer, Edward O'Grady, said it was "hugely disappointing" news because the horse's recent work had been "better than anything he's ever done". He hopes the horse will be fit for Aintree.